Occurrence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) in Calabrian wild boars

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an emerging pathogen in industrialized countries. HEV infections in humans are mainly related to the HEV-3 genotype, predominant in Europe and widespread in wild boars' food products. However, there are little relevant data around HEV prevalence in wild boars, although they are considered the main HEV reservoir and used for typical food products such as liver sausages. Our study aimed to assess HEV occurrence and genetic variability in Calabrian wild boars hunted in the central and ionic area of Catanzaro's province. A total of 86 wild boar liver samples were analyzed showing an overall HEV RNA prevalence of 26.7% (23/86). All positive samples were characterized molecularly as genotype 3 and predicted as HEV-3c subtype despite the shortness of fragment employed for the molecular analysis. This data is in line with previous studies conducted in Europe highlighting the public health concern of these results. Biomolecular methods performed in our study detected only the HEV RNA positivity of analyzed samples without information about the virus viability. Consequently, it is not possible to fully estimate the risk related to the consumption of wild boar's liver sausages or wild boar meat products. Our results highlight the need for further studies in order to investigate the virus viability and to link wild boar's meat consumption with HEV human seroprevalence in Italian regions (Abruzzo, Lazio, Campania and Calabria) where typical wild boar's products are consumed. In this way, the Competent Authorities could perform a complete risk assessment, implement risk management and establish proper measures to ensure the public health and prevent relative human disease.